


Again

by dodecahedrons



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-01 08:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5198684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dodecahedrons/pseuds/dodecahedrons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Madoka may have re-written the laws of the universe, but Time Travel doesn't have to follow the rules.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She awoke with a jolt in the same hospital bed she'd woken up in so many times before, sitting up and staring at the blank, white hospital wall ahead of her. A slight breeze fluttered through the cracked window next to her bed, rustling her newly delivered school schedule which was set neatly on the table next to her bed, as well as barely blowing her somewhat matted bangs across her face. It's not like she noticed, though. She was too busy focusing on the reality of the situation at hand.

She shouldn't have woken up here.

She had just completed it. She had just completed the final timeline. Madoka had entirely rewritten the laws of the universe with her wish. That meant that her own wish was nullified, right? It had to. Her wish was to protect her, but if Madoka was just an idea....

What was there to protect?

She threw the covers off of herself, turning on the bed so her legs were dangling off the edge and grabbing the glasses holding her schedule from blowing entirely off the table.

She shouldn't be here right now.

She gripped at her glasses, refusing to put them on, refusing to act like this was her normal time traveling routine. This was wrong. There had to be a glitch in the time space continuum for her to wake up in a new timeline, right? Her purpose was no longer a reality. She had no reason to try to save another version of Madoka, because she _didn't exist anymore_.

It was then she saw it.

Rather, him.

He was in the corner, in the decorative plastic plant they'd put in her room to make it seem more home-y during her months long stay. His eyes were just as empty and dead as they'd always been, their stare attempting to pierce her cold demeanor. Trying to intimidate her.

"Why am I here?" she called out, her voice devoid of any emotion. To anyone passing her room, it likely sounded like a depressed, self depricating question. But it was so much more than that.

He gave her the same look he always had, but somehow it seemed different to her. His aura was darker than it had been in every passed timeline. She set her glasses to the side has he began to talk, tilting her head slightly in a curious fashion.

"I don't know why you're here," he responded, mouth unmoving, stare unshifting. "All I know is you have a fair ammount of potential trailing behind your name. I don't know what it is, but I feel like you're here for something incredible."

She sighed. It was the same speech as always. After all, she was an irregular. The only magical girl in history to have time travel powers. Incubators didn't share their knowledge with their alternate timeline selves. It was always an "I don't know" upon her first meeting with that timeline's Kyubey.

But for him to be here, in her hospital room, the moment she joined this timeline....

His voice broke her train of thought.

"Something incredibly horrible."

She stared at him, eyes cold. "Incredibly horrible?" she repeated, voice the same as it had been initially - disinterested and emotionless.

"Like I said, I don't know your purpose," he responded. His tail twitched as he jumped out of the plant and made his way toward the girl's dangling legs, stare shifting to watch ahead of himself as he walked. "But if I know anything, an irregular with this amount of Karmic Destiny attached to her can only mean one thing - trouble."

He made it to her feet, staring up at her.

"I don't trust irregulars usually, but I feel like you're here for one specific reason. I don't know what it is; I have no way of knowing."

"Get to your point," Homura demanded, staring down at the Incubator at her feet. "I don't have all day."

"Homura Akemi... your soul is tired. What you've experienced, I don't know. But I sensed your energy when you appeared and it's so strong and it's carrying so much hurt that I don't think your purpose here is the purpose you originally intended," he explained. The girl, Homura, started down at him, her face emotionless as ever.

"What the hell would you know? You've only just met me," she responded, teeth gritted. Her intentions were only good. Why would she appear any other way in this timeline?

"You're not from this time, are you, Homura?" Kyubey inquired. Homura remained silent, which was exactly the response Kyubey was looking for. "I knew it. Your soul just suddenly appeared on my radar, and there are no other Incubators in the area. You've done this before, havent you? This isn't your first rodeo, so to speak. You know the deal."

"You could say that," she responded, shifting her gaze to the ring on her finger as they spoke.

"Your soul is laced with despair. A type of despair I've never seen. You're devolving, but you're not devolving to become a witch. I don't know what you are, Homura, but you aren't a magical girl anymore."

Homura fidigted with her ring, processing what Kyubey had just said. "Not a magical girl anymore?"

"You still have the powers and soul of one, but being a magical girl involves having a pure soul. Yours is scarred. Yours is destroyed. It's amazing you havent become a witch yet! That can only mean your wish hasn't been entirely fulfilled yet, right?" he speculated, jumping up on the bed next to Homura. She remained silent. He hummed contentedly. "Figures."

"What of it?" she asked softly.

"Your soul is deteriorating quickly, and you know you want your inner turmoil to end quickly. You're devolving, Homura. You're going to do anything you can to put your wish - and subsequently, your soul - to rest."

She closed her eyes and sighed, tilting her head entirely down.

"You're despairing, but in a way no magical girl ever has before."

Kyubey jumped on the window sill, preparing himself to slide out of the room entirely.

"I'm interested in watching you crash and burn, Homura Akemi."

With that, he excused himself and disappeared from the area, leaving Homura to herself. Leaving her to her thoughts.

She grabbed her glasses and threw them against the wall, watching as the lenses shattered. Standing, she grabbed her schedule and slipped her shoes on. She had to leave. She had to figure out what he meant by all of that.

If she wasn't a magical girl, what was she? Why was she here?

What was her purpose in this timeline if Madoka had rewritten everything?


	2. Chapter 2

She didn't care who saw her as she trudged down the side of the highway in her pajamas and school shoes. It's not like anyone here knew her - knew the _real_ her. If she didn't know the real her, how could any of these businessmen on the way to their pitiful deskjobs know her?

As she walked, she mused over the cryptic visit she had with Kyubey just an hour or so beforehand. She still didn't really understand what he meant... not a magical girl anymore? How could that possibly be true? And what the hell did he mean she both did and didn't have the soul of a magical girl? Was that even _possible_?

As she walked, she brought her hands to her head, pressing on her temples. She got a few sympathy stares from driver and passengers in cars going by - not that she cared. They couldn't possibly give her enough pity to alleviate what she was feeling right then. She didn't even know what she was feeling right then.

She glanced up after a few more moments of silence, hands still pressed to her temples. In the distance, she could see it. Mitakihara Middle School. She was in no way dressed for class, but she didn't care. She couldn't possibly care less. She just had to see proof that she was here for a reason. She needed at least a shred of evidence that she was here, in this very timeline.

She needed to find Madoka.

As soon as she saw the school, and knew for sure it was the school, she started to make a run for it. As she ran, she stopped following the highway, beginning to get moreso annoyed than overwhelmed by the constant stares of pity from people who thought she was homeless. It's not like she didn't fit the bill - she was unkept, wandering the streets of Mitakihara in her pajamas, with hospital bracelets on her wrists and paler-than-usual skin. Hell, she would've mistaken herself for homeless as well, if she were looking from the outside in.

The cars behind her started to honk mercilessly at eachother as morning traffic started to form. She didn't care about the traffic anymore. She was far enough away that it was out of her mind.

All she cared about right now was getting to the school and finding the source of her current suffering.

* * *

As soon as she stepped foot on the campus, any kids who were outside immediately turned around to look at the mess that was Homura. Some kids whispered to other kids in their groups behind their books, trying to be inconspicuous in their comments and failing greately. Homura payed them no mind, merely walking forward until she was nearing the stairs leading to the doors.

She continued walking in a set course. That is, of course, until a teacher happened to catch her right as she entered the building.

"Oh, no. Honey," the teacher's soft voice came through the glass walls of the nearby classroom. As Homura continued to walk, the teacher made her way out of the classroom, not even bothering to tell her class to stay put as she did so. "Honey, you can't come to school dressed like this. It's against dress code."

Homura gave the teacher a dead look as she stopped walking, which caused the teacher to freeze a bit in her steps. Before she could tell Homura she was breaking the rules one more time, Homura lifted her arm to show the teacher her hospital bracelets. "I had to walk here, and I didn't have my uniform at my hospital room," she lied, her face unreadable as she spoke. "May I have a pass to not get detention? I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

The teacher merely blinked, glancing behind her at the class. They were all staring, waiting in vague anticipation for their teacher's response. The teacher, in turn, gave a nervous chuckle before turning back to face Homura. "Ah... Who's your teacher?"

"For this period? Miss Saotome," she responded.

"Alright... I'll let her know that you had a rough morning. What she does with that, I can't guarantee, but..." the teacher responded awkwardly, pulling her sleeve down to reveal one of those new phone watches. She pulled up her speed dial list and called Miss Saotome, relaying the conversation she'd just had with Homura to her as Homura awkwardly rocked on her heels.

"Oh! Homuras back? That's wonderful!" Miss Saotome chirped, voice audible to all in the hallway. _The speaker on that watch is impressive_ is all Homura could think at that moment. Miss Saotome continued, over Homura's thoughts. "Tell her she's excused, but only for today! I won't accept this kind of behavior as the norm!"

With that, the call suddenly cut out, giving the busy signal to note the call was over.

"Ah... I guess there's your answer," the teacher awkwardly offered, giving Homura a half-smile. "I guess you should head to your class now."

"Yes, thank you," Homura nodded, not bothering to say anything else as she wandered down the hallway toward her class. As she walked, she glanced into the other classrooms, wondering if Madoka's class would be different in this timeline. It was a dumb thing to think - if things were going the same (or as close to the same as they could be), why would her class be different?

As she neared the classroom, she was too lost in her absent thoughts to notice she was about to pass it entirely. Her only saving grace is Miss Saotome's piercing voice breaking through her zoned-out facade. Through the glass walls, she could hear her screaming about her new boyfriend, giving the usual speech about how he didn't like some food she'd prepared. Some timelines, it was bacon. Most timelines, it was eggs. This timeline, it seemed to be both. Miss Saotome only stopped her rambling when she caught sight of Homura through her peripheral vision.

The glass door opened as Homura neared it, and Miss Saotome announced in her annoyingly cheerful voice that Homura was a returning student from the hospital. Like usual.

That one front-row kid - Nakazawa, was it? - raised his hand, inquiring about Homura's clothes. Miss Saotome merely glossed over the question, giving a disinterested, rhetorical answer before directing Homura to an empty seat - her normal seat, across the timelines.

As she walked forward, she noticed Madoka's absence. She felt her stomach turn, and she froze in the middle of the room. A kid sitting at one of the desks she'd stopped by gently tugged at the bottom of her pajama top. "Akemi?" she asked hesitantly, warranting no response.

After a moment of awkward silence, Homura cleared her throat. Without turning, she asked a soft, "Where's the nurse's aid?". Miss Saotome audibly hummed, glancing around.

"I'm not sure. She appears to be late," Miss Saotome responded. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"No... Nevermind," she responded, her voice wavering. She took a moment more before finally making it to her seat, allowing the actual class to start.

Madoka wasn't here... was she? Miss Saotome'd said the nurse's aid was late, which would mean Madoka was in this timeline. But there was no guarantee that Madoka was the nurse's aid this time, which would cause Miss Saotome's statement to be completely useless.

As Miss Saotome began her lecture, Homura found herself with tears rolling down her face.

_Why was this happening to her?_

* * *

It was around the middle of the class when Miss Saotome abruptly stopped her lecture. "Ah, Kaname. Glad you decided to show up," she remarked, her voice snippy. Homura glanced up at the mention of Madoka's surname, eyes wide and hopeful, cheeks still damp from the silent crying she'd been doing.

Sure enough, she was here.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Madoka laughed, a bit awkwardly. "Sayaka's still in the hospital, so I went to visit her before school started. I didn't mean to run late, honest!"

Miss Saotome's eyes softened just a bit. "Oh, she's still in the hospital? I'm very sorry to hear. It's been a week, though... is she alright?"

"She's better," Madoka nodded, smiling before turning to make her way to her seat. As she walked between desks to her own, she happened to notice Homura. "Ah! Uh, Miss Saotome? Did I miss the announcement of a transfer student?"

"Oh! Dearie me, I forgot you hadn't heard. Miss Kaname, this is Miss Akemi Homura. She recently got out of the hospital, and will be joining us for the remainder of the year."

"Oh, the hospital?" Madoka asked, a bit nervously. "Well! I'm glad you're feeling better! If you start to feel ill again, I'm the nurse's aid for the class!"

Homura gave a soft nod. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Madoka hummed and nodded in response, giving Homura a smile before turning and sliding into her desk a few feet away.

Madoka had the same desk in this timeline too, Homura only barely noticed before she started to zone out on the whiteboard behind Miss Saotome.

Madoka was here, which meant that her wish hadn't come true across all timelines. Either that, or this timeline was an anomaly in itself. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

All she knew is she couldn't let the day end without getting to talking to Madoka one on one.


End file.
